As the state struggles to deal with drought conditions, Gov. Jerry Brown met Thursday with water managers from across Southern California to urge statewide cooperation to make sure there is enough water for everyone.

The session at the Metropolitan Water District headquarters in downtown Los Angeles included Brown and officials from the umbrella agency that provides water to 26 cities and water districts in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

“Make no mistake,” Brown said at the beginning of the meeting. “This drought is a big wake-up call and reminds us we do depend on natural systems. It is not just going to the store and buying something.

“We need to use technology and self-restraint if we are going to get through this.”

Brown said he discussed the state’s situation Wednesday with President Barack Obama and he promised to help as much as he could.

“We are working in the short term to get funding from the president and in the long term on a set of investments that will enable us to continue to grow and have a high quality of life,” Brown said.

The current drought has been building for the past several years and this year has been the driest on record, prompting Brown earlier this week to declare an emergency that opens the way for federal assistance. Several smaller Northern California cities have warned that they will soon run out of water and the largest impact is expected to be in the Central Valley, threatening the state’s $45 billion a year agricultural industry. In Marin County, officials started pumping water out of a backup reservoir.

The most recent emergency was called in 1977 when a similar situation developed after two dry years, forcing a statewide conservation program to take effect.

Brown has asked Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 20 percent and said mandatory programs will be put into effect if there is not enough savings.

The Metropolitan Water District and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power have had conservation measures in effect for the past several years, which has enabled local jurisdictions to avoid mandatory programs.

MWD General Manager Jeff Kightlinger said the agency will be taking steps to encourage more conservation by its 19 million customers.

Kightlinger said he will ask the agency’s board of directors on Feb. 11 to declare a water supply alert to send a message on the need for conservation, increase its conservation incentive program from $20 million to $40 million and explore ways the agency can help the rest of the state. The incentive program would urge people to make use of energy efficient appliances and drought resistance plants.

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During the 1977 drought, Kightlinger said the agency was able to divert some of its supplies to Northern California, which is not an option this year.

“We don’t even have the supplies in Northern California that we could exchange,” Kightlinger said. “But, we will look at all we can do to help out.”

The MWD has been stockpiling water for the past 20 years in anticipation of a new drought, he said.

If the drought continues, Brown said all Californians will have to change their habits such as taking shorter showers and turning taps off while shaving or brushing teeth.

“Everyone is going to have to get used to using water as efficiently and as responsibility as possible,” Brown said. “There are limited resources and every day the drought goes on, we will have to tighten down. The easiest water to get is the water that we don’t use.”

Brown said he also is concerned about the potential political divisions that the drought may generate between Northern and Southern California.

“It’s a huge issue,” Brown said. “We do have politics. We have had it historically of finger pointing and blame. When there is a problem, there is a tendency to blame someone else.”

Within the city of Los Angeles, the DWP limits residents on when they can water their lawns — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for those with addresses ending in an odd number and Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays for those with addresses ending in an even number.

Also residents are limited to running sprinklers for a maximum of eight minutes before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m. Other prohibitions include a ban on washing down hardscapes and handwashing of vehicles.